How many of you have had a monthly gym membership and you never even stepped foot in the gym for months, sometimes years at a time? It is a bit of a guilty charge you keep paying because your intentions are good and you really want to get to the gym. You don’t want to cancel the membership because then you are giving up on you following through on your intention of going.
Simultaneously you sign up for an app that you can track eating and other healthy lifestyle habits for some nominal fee and again you do not cancel it because you would be quitting those good intentions. Or you find an app for quick workouts, like 7 Minute Workout, where you do not need to get out of the house, and you can do something on the fly on those days you meant to go to the gym but did not have time to make it. All the while you are being charged “only” $9.99 a month, plus the gym membership, and not doing either.
Oh yes, and then there are those apps like, Mind Body, that offer you a bunch of different classes at various locations for much less than you would be charged for a drop-in rate. You think this is it! The diversity in choices will get you to work out. Only later do you find out that the times are not optimal for your schedule, but you do not want to quit on your intention of getting to these classes at some point, so you keep paying the monthly fee.
The moral of this story is that health & fitness subscriptions creep into monthly fees that you pay, and they are psychologically difficult to cancel. The fitness industry builds this into their financial models and marketing- knowing how humans work!
Albeit at diverse levels, we all want to be healthy and fit, which is fantastic. We do not however have to do this at such an excessive cost. Follow these tips to challenge the monthly “Health and Fitness” spending line item:
- Take inventory of the monthly memberships you are being charged for and the health & wellness apps on your devices, paid or free.
- Is there an app you are paying for that a free one can replace? If so, cancel the one you are being charged for.
- When you take on a new monthly charge ask yourself if there is something you can cancel that costs more or at least the same so you aren’t increasing your spending.
- For monthly memberships you are being charged for, when was the last time you went there? If more than 6 months, cancel them. If more than 3 months challenge your need for it. There are hold options at most places, so if you need some time to think about it at least do that for some savings.
- Really be honest with yourself about your passions. Schedule and budget what you can spend on health and fitness. Our lives are constantly evolving as kids’ schedules, work schedules, social schedules, etc. change. So visit this spending area and check in a few times a year to make sure you are getting the value out of what you are actually spending in this category.
Stay fit, stay healthy and save some money at the same time!
